el cronicónasked martha to take over the records. martha recalls her husband joe saying that...

Augustin Wagner,descendant of his German grandfather Carlos Wagner,founded the Wagner farms in 1910 with 55 acres in Corrales growing it to over100acres. He would marry Trinidad Sanchez in 1920. Four generations have worked the

farm growing it to the successful business it is today

El CronicónEl CronicónPresident:Lorraine Dominguez-Stubblefield

Editor: Roy C. Skeens

Official Quarterly Publication of theSANDOVAL COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Volume 25, No3 March , 2017

MARCH MEETINGSunday March 12th 2pm

WE HONOR THE WAGNER FAMILY FARMIN CORRALES

Agustin,Gus, Eva, Sophie, and Adela Wagner (1947)Eva, Adela, Mary & Gus Wagner (1932)

March 17.qxp_Dec 07 2/17/17 2:52 PM

El Cronicón

The Sandoval County Historical Society Salutes Roy Skeens,editor of TheCronicon for over 20 Years of faithful service andhard work in producing our Quarterly Newsletter.

He also photographs our events ,keeps our office machines inorder and generally holds things together.

Many thanks to you Roy for all you do for all of us to keepthe record straight.

Signed: The Executive Board Lorraine, Tom, Cynthia and Ernie

President’s message

www.sandovalhistory.org

Check out our web site that BenBlackwell puts together for all currentinformation on the Society:

March 17.qxp_Dec 07 2/17/17 2:52 PM Page 2

March 2017

JANUARY MEETING

Today is all about celebrating-40 years ofthe Historical Society and presidentsthrough the years as well as the member-ship.

Ken Kloeppel is being especiallyhonored for his years of service as presidentduring 2010 thru 2014. He has himself mademany prints of the Fiestas de San Lorenzo overmany years, and contributed greatly as presi-dent -and we are proud to have him as a mem-ber.

We want to thank Tom Wilson for hiswonderful work on a new wood fence on thenorth and south sides of the property and forhis dedication to our little family for manyyears. Thank you also to Roy Skeens for shar-ing his life with us, and he recently celebratedhis 93rd birthday!! 25 years he has been theeditor of the Cronicon, and he also runs oursound system for our meetings.

Thank you to William Last for helping uswith our finances over the years.Rusty Van Hart for helping with membership,and Dirk for digitizing our more than 3,000photos !! Cecilia Rinaldi and Jenny Muro fortheir endless work in our library. Max for allhis work with the building maintenance- itnever ends, huh?

David andVirginia Ortiz have devot-ed endless hours to maintaining our photo

albums, which we enjoy so much, and addingmany pictures to our files. Joy Barcay,Cynthia Spence and Priscilla Taylor havemade sure we are always well fed, as well asour guests. David C de Baca has kept sobusy over the last few years preparing the mili-tary photo display now permanently displayedat Sandoval County, and is a wonderful geneal-ogist.

Past president Tony Lucero sharedmany memories of his time at theSCHS,including a story about Bob Pramenwho was groundskeeper and asked him to gettrees for the property. So he did get treesdonated—but they were only 4-5 “ evergreens.Some are still alive on the property.He remembered early meetings at Ed’s homeas well as other member homes. How graciousEd was, and how he was painting at the Zocaloone time when Tony was hoping to buy apainting of his. He was painting a picture of astove and a donkey and Tony was able to getthe painting on “time”! He treasures thatpainting. They took many field trips includingto pit houses near Gallina on the USFS proper-ty, Near Gillman where they learned aboutManuel Aragon and his Packard car which fitperfectly on the railroad tracks, once they tookoff the rubber tires. He would bring peopledown to Bernalillo. Tony learned that it wasOK to be Histerical, as we all must be.

continued


El Cronicón

Bill Sapien was president for 2 ½years. He reminded us that the SCHS is anintegral part of Sandoval county, and that weshould always keep our forebearers active inour mind. He recalls helping to have acoustictiles placed on the ceiling of our meetingroom. How Martha Liebert has been the pro-ducer and director and leading our creativevision. How Dirk Van Hart helped with theboards to store our photos and informationand then published his book “Old 44”. Hethanked Lorraine for leading us at this time,and noted how Volunteerism is very muchalive thanks to people such as MickeyArchibeque, Cynthia Spence, ErnieJaskowski, Dirk Van Hart, Roy Skeens,Martha Liebert, Max C de Baca, Joe Sando,Will Last,Tom Wilson, Bertille Baca, LowellAnderson, Mollie Kent, Bob Keegan, GayleThompson, Gary Williams, Karen Vallo, andso many others.Martha Liebert recalled how in 1977 JustinRinaldi started the SCHS with MollyKissinger who was editor of the Jemez Mt.News. Molly printed diaries, letters, photos ofthe local people and in 1976 the BiCentennialof our country led her to work towards theSCHS beginnings. In 1979 she became ill andasked Martha to take over the records. Martharecalls her husband Joe saying that “history isa bag of tricks we play on the dead” and thatthe last man standing gets to “tell the story”.Our story began with the History of SandovalCounty in photos, and SCHS was given a grantto record the genealogies and histories of our

families.Ed DeLavy passed away in 1989. He had beena medic in WWII and eventually came to NMwhere he filed a homestead claim for 2.5 acresand built the house we now use for the SCHSmeetings. He and John Sinclair became greatbuddies and he would illustrate books forJohn. SCHS moved into the building in 1990and many people donated materials, letters,photos, and more. In 1999 the 3 muskateers—Roy, Bob, and Mickey got permits to add thecurrent meeting room. Karen Vallo’s husbandHenry did the work and the county donatedsome funding. We were thrilled to have theSmithsonian here for the Food History ofSandoval county, and many more exhibits wereincluded as well.The many donations of members include AnnRustabakke who donated our sign and helpedto plant trees, Miranda Sapien who made cur-tains for the new room, 20 members of SCHSwho are published authors, Monty Avery whowas part of the Chautauqua program, and thecurrent archives committee which includesDonna Cunningham, Christine Tade,Theresa Aragon , Joy, Jenny, andCecilia.Many thanks to all our pastPresidents- Bob Keegan, Mollie Kent, MarthaLiebert, Lowell Anderson, Allan Minge, GayleThompson, Tony Lucero, Bill Sapien, MickeyArchibeque, Gary Williams, and Ken Kloeppel.Thanks also to the many members of SCHSwho donate their time and labor to help pre-serve our family history, culture, and even ourway of life.Reported byKaren Lermuseaux


March 2017

Christmasparty


El Cronicón

Thanksto Virginia Ortiz for the

photos

Christmasparty


March 2017

Christmasparty


El Cronicón

TO BE OR NOT TO BEby SAM MC ILHANEY

First. For example, in the volume A Journey

Through New Mexico History, by Donald

Lavash, the author goes into more detail about

Billy than do most

books. However, no

mention is made

of Billy using

the name

Bonney until

we get to a para-

graph where the

author, all of a sud-

den, says in 1877 Billy shows

up in Lincoln and begins to use the name

Bonney. As in most books, where Billy got the

name is not mentioned because -nobody

seems to know; that’s my guess. Records show

a gentleman was a prominent land owner in

the neighborhood of Watrous (NM). His name

was James Bonney, his Spanish-speaking

neighbors called him Santiago (James in

Spanish). He had married a local girl, of the

family of Martin (a Spanish name: MAR-

TEEN) and she was an heir of the large Mora

(NM) Land Grant.

Some try to connect Billy the Kid with this

Bonney. Santiago Bonney was eventually killed

by Indians. Some of his descendants actually

have the spot where he was killed marked. I

don’t recall what year he was killed. I believe it

was something like 1866 or so. After he was

killed, his widow married into a prominent

ranching family in the Roy, NM, area, the fam-

ily is the Laumbachs. There are Bonneys still in

the area. One of the descendants, Ramon

Bonney, a coyoté (part Hispanic and part

Anglo), lived for many years alone, up until

recent years, on a homestead acreage near Roy.

The gossip in that region always said Ramon

was Billy’s half-brother — or some such •••

None of the standard New Mexico history vol-

umes mention anything whatsoever about this

Santiago and Billy. As I pointed out; most his-

torians just skip over the name Bonney —

because they simply don’t know •••

Regarding the name Antrim. We know where

and why, when it comes to this name.

Billy’s dad died right after the Civil War, the

War ended in 1865. Catherine, Billy’s mother,

his brother Joe, and he, moved to Kansas from

New York City. We are not certain as to when

Billy’s dad actually died but we know it was

sometime between the end of the Civil War

and their arrival in Kansas. Did Catherine

strike out with her kids alone or was her hus-

band still living? We don’t know. We do know

Continued from the Dec issue


March 2017

that after he died, the family was destitute.

We know that in 1870, Catherine and her little

family arrived in Agusta, Sedgwick County,

Kansas. Billy, according to most accounts, was

more or less about 10-12 years old. He went to

work for a gentleman named William H.

Antrim. Apparently Antrim was a single par-

ent. We don’t know how many kids he had.

Eventually, the two families moved to Santa Fe

and on March 1, 1873, Catherine McCarty mar-

ried William H. Antrim.

Eventually, Antrim took his expanded family to

Silver City, New Mexico Territory. In 1874,

Billy’s mother died. He would have been about

15 years old. While he lived in Silver City with

the fami1y, he attended school. Of course, he

never graduated from any school but everyone

who knew him said he was innately very intel-

ligent. He spoke fluent Spanish. After his moth-

er passed away, Billy and his brother, Joe, were

just about all on their own. We don’t know

much — if anything —concerning his brother

after this. We do know he began living in a sil-

ver boom town, Georgetown, which is about 18

miles from Silver City. After this, we lose track

of Billy’s stepfather, Antrim. Let’s back-track now to the beginning. That is,the name Billy was supposed to be given atbirth. Henry McCarty. Authorities usually sayhe was born in New York City in 1859 probablyin the poor and destitute section of the city

known — even to this day — as “the Irishsection.” I’ve been there and, of course, it is notpoor and destitute now but it is still called theIrish part of town. A little history of Ireland..Please, a digression ••• At the time Billy was supposed to be born, thatis, 1859, the Irish part of New York City wasover-flowing at the seams. Generally speaking,Ireland was a very poor country. Most of thecommon folk lived on potatoes very little meat.In 1847, a blight attacked the potato crops allacross the country. 20,000 died from starva-tion; another million died because lack ofproper nutrition made them susceptible to dis-ease. Literally millions left Ireland and thou-sands came to the United States. Some sayBilly could have possibly been born in Ireland.Anyhow, his earliest years were apparently inIrish “Town” in New York City. Some say he wasin one of the infamous gangs of NYC. Regarding the name itself: McCarty. To stir thepot even more .•• Do not put all your moneyon the name being strictly Irish. Like myname, the original was written out and overthe generations, folks began to abbreviate,originally, it would have been writtenMacCarty. Today, we see a small “c” or a littleline under the “C;” a reminder it is just anabbreviation. Like my name, it would still becorrectly pronounced MAC - Carty. To continuethe digression for another moment .•• Having explained thusly, to continue regardingthe name, that name could have come fromIreland — but, also, it could just as well have

Continued


El Cronicón

originated in Scotland. Like my family name,they claim neither Scottish or Irish — butrather Scot-Irish. That is, Scots from NorthernIreland. Billy’s name could have originated inanyone of those three countries: Ireland,Scotland or Northern Ireland. Now that I have you good and confused, Imight kindly suggest you re-read this digres-sion about Billy’s name, McCarty, a time ortwo. The point being Billy could have beenanyone of those three nationalities — and stillbe born in the Irish part of New York City —or he could have been born in one of those oldcountries. Again, the name does not mean justfrom Ireland and does not mean only Irish.Why the MAC in front of a name in the firstplace? That ••. is a story for another time ••. What 1 have just explained regarding Billy’sname has never been done as far as I know.Now, back to Billy where we left him in SilverCity, Territory of New Mexico. Myths and leg-end says Billy killed the first time when someguy insulted his mother, Catherine. So, Billykilled him with a knife. No book is sure on thatpoint. As I previously mentioned, Billy attend-ed school for a short time. He worked as awaiter at Mrs. Sarah A. Brown’s boardinghouse. With all the silver mining going on inthe area, 1 imagine Mrs. Brown had all theboarders she could handle. During this shorttime, Billy had the only family life he ever real-ly knew. As 1 mentioned, his mother died in1874 and after that we lose track of Billy’s step-dad, Antrim. Billy and his brother, Joe, were just about ontheir own. Billy was about 17 years old. As

mentioned, Joe began living in Georgetown, 18miles from Silver City. The records show Billywas jailed in Sliver City for stealing. One of theitems he may have stolen could have been agun. Anyhow, Billy escaped from jail and head-ed for Arizona Territory. In a place called CampGrant, Arizona, he shot and killed a man,Frank P. Cahill. The next day, he was jailed formurder. He escaped. Legend says he escapedoften because the handcuffs they put on himcould be slipped over his hands. We don’t know why he killed Cahill but afterescaping, he moved around the territory fromplace to place, to day he would be called“homeless;” in those days, “saddle tramp.” He finally comes back to New Mexico and staysfor a short time with Joe. He knows they arelooking for him in Silver City for stealing andhe is wanted for murder in Arizona Territory.My guess is he is probably being tracked byArizona Rangers, the law enforcement of theterritory. In 1877, he shows up in Mesilla, the“old town” of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Hesteals horses and cattle for cash in his pocket.That same year he comes to Lincoln and tellseveryone his name is WILLIAM H. BONNEY. Itis understandable why he would change hisname —but why this particular name? Thehistorians have no answer to this question.They just say in 1877 he is in Lincoln and sayshis name is Bonney ••. By the way, Bonney isdefinitely Irish .. In the ancient language ofIreland, it means “pretty.” What 1 am going to relate now will definitelyNOT be found — in ANY book •.. The Pueblo of Zuni is situated about 30 miles


March 2017

To beContinued

south of Gallup on the western edge of NewMexico. It is only about 15 miles from theArizona line.these folks have been there a longtime; the first people to greet Coronado andhis army when they first set foot in what wenow call New Mexico. That was in 1540. The tradition of Zuni, as with all of the pueb-los, is: what happens at the pueblo stays at thepueblo. It is not their custom to disclose hap-penings to outsiders. The reason we knowabout Coronado at Zuni is because Coronado’schroniclers wrote it all down. An acquaintance of mine is a Zuni NativeAmerican. L won’t disclose his name for obvi-ous reasons. His father was born and raised atthe pueblo and heard many stories. My friendtold me his dad told him and his older brother,in bits and pieces while they were growing up,stories which his dad had told him — aboutBilly. I am going to give exact words, as best 1can remember, as to what his dad rememberedand passed on to him and his brother.Billy was always alone when he came. He wasjust a boy! The village protected him from out-siders. He was just a boy! He came more than once. One time, the Armycame looking for him. The Zuni protected himbecause he was just a boy. He would stay a fewdays when he came. He liked our food. Thepeople of the Village liked him. They liked hisblue eyes. It doesn’t take but a minute to understandwhat Billy was doing. He left Silver City afterescaping from jail and he headed for ArizonaTerritory. He was 17 years old. A map will con-firm that coming and going from Arizona, orMexico, a handy stop’would be Zuni Pueblo. He

knew he had friends there. In Arizona, he was wanted for murder and theArizona Rangers, no doubt, would be trackinghim. They could have even asked questions atthe pueblo since it is just a few miles from theArizona boundary. The Rangers did not wearuniforms but the Native Americans may havebelieved they were U. S. Army scouts. We left Billy when he arrived in Lincoln, hav-ing changed his name to Bonney. That was in1877. Soon, the Lincoln County War gets goingand you can follow the details in any NM his-tory book. A rancher, John Tunstall, was justabout the only person who ever took a person-al interest in Billy and gave him a job on hisranch. When Tunstall was shot in cold blood,for political reasons, Billy vowed revenge.Richard “Dick” Brewer, Billy, the two Coebrothers, and several others got deputized bythe Justice of the Peace, Wilson, and went look-ing for the killers. They called themselves theRegulators, led by Brewer. One of several shoot-outs took place on theMescalero Apache Reservation, nearRuidoso,NM, at a place called Blazer’s Mill. Thegroup responsible for killing Tunstall had hireda gunslinger from Texas, Andrew M.“Buckshot” Roberts. At the shoot-out, theRegulators killed Roberts but not beforeRoberts killed Dick Brewer. With the death ofBrewer, Billy became the leader of theRegulators. The following is NOT in the books•••


El Cronicón

Fray Alonso de Benavides and theTiwa Nation, AD 1630

By Matthew J. Barbour, RegionalManager, Coronado and Jemez Historic

Sites

Fray Alonso de Benavides arrived inNew Mexico in 1626. He was aFranciscan Priest of Portuguese descent.Charged by his order as Custodian(head) of the missions and agent of theinquisition, Benavides toured NewMexico extensively overseeing the con-version and management of all NativeAmerican peoples in the province beforedeparting in 1629.

Upon his return to Spain in 1630,Fray Alonso de Benavides published hisreport, entitled History (or Memorial) ofNew Mexico. It was originally addressedto King Philip IV of Spain, but was laterrevised and expanded for Pope UrbanVIII. In many ways, in addition to beinga history, the report was a geography andethnography regarding Native Americanpeople in the region. It highlighted theirnations and traditional culture practices-albeit from the perspective of Europeanoutsider-, as well as, discussed at somelength the changes which were occurringamongst the Pueblo and Apache peoples

due to extended contact with Spanishsettlers.

Among the groups discussedwere the Southern Tiwa, known toBendavides as the Tiwa Nation. By 1630,the Southern Tiwas dwelled in approxi-mately “fifteen to sixteen pueblos in adistrict of twelve or thirteen leagues” (36to 40 miles). Benavides estimates thepopulation at “seven thousand soulsbreathing, all baptized.” This number -even if inflated- is likely much lower thanthe number of Native American peoplesliving in the region at the time of theCoronado Expedition (1540-1542).

Disease, warfare, and migrationaway from the area had likely taken theirtoll, but these impacts are not addressedby the friar. Instead, he focuses on theFranciscan Missions within the regionciting the presence of two friaries: SanFrancisco de Sandia and San Antonio dela Isleta. These are known today as thePueblos of Sandia and Isleta respectively.The remaining pueblos were listed ashaving “remarkable churches,” but likelydid not have a full-time friar or wereadministered by priest outside of theFranciscan order.

Benavides only mentions two ofthese non-mission pueblos in any detail.The first is known as “Tiguex” or“Tihues” and has been suggested to be


March 2017

C

the site known today as Kuaua Pueblo(Coronado Historic Site). The other isonly referenced as “a city” and may bethe Alcanfor/Santiago Pueblo(Bandelier’s Puaray) made famous as theplace where the Coronado camped dur-ing both winters of his journey. However,these linkages are speculative at best.They are largely based upon Benavideslimited geographical reference pointswhich include the fact that the village ofTiguex had access to gypsum and that amodern gypsum mine exists near Kuauatoday.

The description of both places byBenavides is rather fanciful. As translatorDr. Morrow notes, Benavides descendsinto “wobbly hearsay and fabrication.”The friar declares that Tiguex should be“the great city of the king of thisprovince.” It has “four thousand or morehouses” and is “enclosed by rock walls.”The other “city” also has stone construc-tion and is the place “where the kingkeeps his women.” It includes threeplazas and “more than twenty” kivas.Archaeological evidence does indicatethat Kuaua Pueblo was occupied into theseventeenth century. Stranger still,Benavides’s description of the layout ofthe city where the “king keeps hiswomen” matches surprisingly well withexcavation maps made in the twentieth

century of Kuaua Pueblo, possibly sug-gesting that Kuaua was the unnamed citynot Tiguex as implied by Dr. Morrow.However, neither Kuaua or Puaray werebuilt of stone or had stone features thatcan be identified on the landscape today.

Given the fantastic descriptions,Benavides had likely never visited eitherplace. It is possible the locations are fic-tional, but this seems improbable. He fol-lows descriptions of these places with aclearly exaggerated account of “the mar-velous great rock” readers can recognizeas Acoma Pueblo. Whether fictional ornot, why mention these pueblos in thefirst place?

Benavides takes more time in hisaccount to describe “Tiguex” and “a city,”than he does the mission villages ofIsleta and Sandia or the other thirteen tofourteen other unnamed Tiwa Pueblosclustered along the Rio Grande. This sug-gests these two places are of someimportance. Given that few –if any- con-temporary secular documents refer tothese villages, it is possible that theseplaces were of historic importance, buthad fallen into disuse. Perhaps the men-tioning of these places is in reference toCoronado’s Expedition nearly a centuryearlier. Conversely, could these villageshave maintained a traditional spiritualrole? The citing of more than twenty


El Cronicón

kivas could suggest the Pueblo was stillheavily involved in kachina worship orother ceremonial practices. This mightexplain why the friar never visited themor indulged in such fantastical accounts.

The passages concerning theTiwa Nation offer plenty of room forspeculation. The truth may never be fullydiscerned. To learn more about Alonsode Benavides and develop your ownopinions on early seventeenth centuryNew Mexico, pick up a copy of A Harvestof Reluctant Souls: Fray Alonso deBenavides’s History of New Mexico, 1630,translated by Baker H. Morrow. It is avail-able now from the University of NewMexico Press. www.unmpress.com.

Al Capone Slept Here—Or Did He?By Shannon Wagers

In the heart of the Jemez Mountains, in

a meadow along Cebolla Creek about a mile

upstream from the Seven Springs Fish

Hatchery, there once stood an exclusive guest

ranch. One of its more notorious guests

might—or might not—have been Chicago

gangster Al Capone.

The place was called Rancho. It opened

in 1926 and was the creation of Seth Seiders, a

shady Chicago Rea businessman who named it

after his wife, Rhea. Seiders was an advertising

man and a publisher of motivational books for

salesmen, a self-made millionaire at a time

when a million dollars was still a lot of money.

He was also reputed to have made at least

some of his money as a bootlegger, somewhat

in the mold of the fictional Jay Gatsby.

Rancho Rea offered a sort of rustic opu-

lence to those who could afford it, a romanti-

cized vision of what the “real West” was like. Its

promotional literature stated pointedly that

Rancho Rea did not cater to “tourists and tran-

sients,” but rather to long-term vacationers

who planned to stay for a month or more: “Just

your own little party” of up to 30 guests at a


March 2017

time. The ranch included a trading post, a

dance hall and a reading room with stone fire-

places, rustic furniture, Navajo rugs, and tro-

phy animal heads mounted on the walls. The

food was “fit for a king!” and “prepared by a

French chef,” boasted one of its brochures.

Recreational activities included hunting, fish-

ing, trail rides, polo, swimming, tennis,

archery, target shooting and weekly rodeo per-

formances by local cowboys. Winter sports

included skiing, ice skating, bobsledding and

sleigh rides. Guests were driven to the ranch

from railroad stations in Albuquerque and

Santa Fe in Packard or Pierce-Arrow limou-

sines.

But the place had a sinister aspect as

well. Bootleg liquor was sold there, more or

less openly. Some of the guests had a distinctly

menacing appearance—at least in the eyes of

local residents. Security was tight. The guards

at the gate were said to be armed with subma-

chine guns. A former employee of an

Albuquerque laundry that provided the ran-

cho’s linen service recalled that the company’s

drivers had to present a special pass before

being admitted to the grounds. Naturally,

rumors arose that Rancho Rea was a hideout

for gangsters, and perhaps it was.

The evidence is largely, if not entirely, cir-

cumstantial. Seiders was from Chicago and

apparently had ties to organized crime. Beyond

that, not much is known about what his rela-

tionship to the mob might have been. Very

likely some of his underworld associates did

frequent Rancho Rea, but was Capone one of

them?

Despite the widely-held belief among

longtime residents of the Jemez, it seems

unlikely that Capone ever spent much time

there—if any at all. His career as a mob boss

only spanned about seven years - from 1925,

when he took over the Chicago Outfit, to 1931,

when he was sent to federal prison for tax eva-

sion. His activities during that period are fairly

well documented. He is known to have passed

through New Mexico with his entourage in

1927, when he made a journey by train to Los

Angeles, then promptly returned to Chicago

after California authorities made it clear that

he and his cronies were not welcome there.

Might he have made a brief stopover at Rancho

Rea to see an old friend? It’s possible, although

no documentation of such a visit has ever been

uncovered. Certainly he would have felt safe

from rival gangsters at the secluded guest

ranch, and Capone was known to enjoy

bathing in hot mineral springs, of which there

are many in the Jemez country. So continued


El Cronicón

it’s not inconceivable. But unless new evidence

surfaces, we’ll probably never know for sure.

Capone was released from prison in

1939, after serving eight years of an 11-year

sentence, suffering from dementia brought on

by advanced syphilis. He spent his remaining

years in Florida and died there in 1947, at the

age of 48.

With the onset of the Great Depression,

Seiders also fell on hard times. Rancho Rea

was seized by the IRS and sold for back taxes.

For the next decade or so it passed through the

hands of several owners and eventually

reopened as the Lazy Ray Guest Ranch in the

late 1940s. The Lazy Ray struggled along for a

few years but failed to make much money. The

era of posh dude ranches was coming to a

close. In the mid-1960s, most of the ranch land

was subdivided into half–acre lots for summer

homes, but they did not sell. Finally in 1970,

the entire property was acquired by the U.S.

Forest Service and became part of the Santa Fe

National Forest. The ranch buildings were torn

down, and today all that remains of Rancho

Rea are the faint traces of its foundations

among the meadow grass.

This article ran previously in the January . 2016issue of PRIME TIME. It is reproduced herewith permission.

MEMBERSHIPYou can check your membershipstatus from the date on yourCronicon’s address label .If you arenot current ,you may not receive thenewsletter. Also make sure we haveyor mailing address if the PO doesnot deliver to your street address.

Rusty Van Hart, Membership chair.293-2073

April 9th ALICE AGUILAR –

speaks about Pascuala Bernal(town of Bernalillo was namedafter her)

May 7thHONORING ANDREW &

MARGARET MORA our Lady of Sorrows choirdirector & member

June 11th

to be announced

UPCOMING PROGRAMS


Nasario remembersthe Río Puerco

This documentary,

follows celebrated

folklorist Nasario

García doing what he

loves: wandering

through landscape and

memory amid the ghosts towns of

New Mexico’s Rio Puerco valley,

reviving recuerdos of his youth

when the ranching villages thrived

and viejitos elders told stories

beside a river that once ran.

The film is directed by award-win-

ning writer and director Shebana

Coelho, who previously adapted

Dr. García’s first book of oral histo-

ries into the stage play, When The

Stars Trembled in Río Puerco, that

was performed in Santa Fe

and�Albuquerque. Using inter-

views with Dr. García, oral histo-

ries, archival photos and footage of

the landscape, this hour-long

March 2017

A DOCUMENTARY IN THE MAKING

film evokes the stillness and vividness of a

tactile past, one that the landscape and the

ruins still remember.

New Mexico PBS has expressed interest in

broadcasting the film.

As much as this film is about one man’s story

of one forgotten place in New Mexico, it’s also

about home and belonging, about where we

all come from - la tierra, el cielo, the land, the

sky, and how now, more than ever, we need

stories like this that remind us we were once

connected to community, land and spirit and

that we can be connected again.

UPDATE from Nasario

We're pleased to have met our fundrais-

ing goal! The next step is for the docu-

mentary team, spearheaded by Shebana

Coelho, to undergo what is called the first

cut by mid-April. At that point, the film

will be submitted to PBS at UNM for

their assessment as to whether they

would be interested in seeing the final

version/cut of the documentary for possi-

ble telecasting in October during

Hispanic Heritage Month.


El Cronicón

The Lighter Side

“ONE IS NEVER TO OLD TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW!”

“ONE IS NEVER TO OLD TO LEARN SOMETHING NEW!”Manure... An interesting fact.Manure : In the 16th and 17th centuries, everything for export had to betransported by ship. It was also before the invention of commercial fertilizers,so large shipments of manure were quite common.It was shipped dry, because in dry form it weighed a lot less than when wet,but once water (at sea) hit it, not only did it become heavier, but the process offermentation began again, of which a by-product is methane gas. As the stuffwas stored below decks in bundles you can see what could (and did) happen.Methane began to build up below decks and the first time someone camebelow at night with a lantern, BOOOOM!

Several ships were destroyed in this manner before it was determined justwhat was happening

After that, the bundles of manure were always stamped with the instruction 'Stow high in transit ' on them, which meant for the sailors to stow it highenough off the lower decks so that any water that came into the hold wouldnot touch this "volatile" cargo and start the production of methane.

Thus evolved the term ' S.H.I.T ' , (Stow High In Transit) ,…………. “So it’sreally not a swear word”which has come down through the centuries and is in use to this very day.You probably did not know the true history of this word.Neither did I

I had always thought it was a golfing term

March 17.qxp_Dec 07 2/17/17 2:52 PM

March 2017

The Lighter SideA tip of the editor’s hat toour contributors

Words of WisdomI changed my car horn to gunshotsounds. People get out of the waymuch faster now.

Gone are the days when girls usedto cook like their mothers. Nowthey drink like their fathers.

You know that tingly little feelingyou get when you really like some-one? That’s common sense leavingyour body.

I didn’t make it to the gym today.That makes five years in a row.

I decided to change calling thebathroom the John and renamed itthe Jim. I feel so much better say-ing I went to the Jim this morning.

Last year I joined a support groupfor procrastinators. We haven’t met

yet.Old age is coming at a reallybad time.

When I was a child I thought “NapTime” was a punishment. Now, asa grownup, it feels like a smallvacation.The biggest lie I tell myself is, “Idon’t need to write that down, I’llremember it.”

At my age “Getting lucky” meanswalking into a room and remem-bering what I came in there for.


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Ed DeLavy

March 17.qxp_Dec 07 2/17/17 2:52 PM

el cronicónasked martha to take over the records. martha recalls her husband joe saying that...

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